Saison starter size

lowtones84 · May 29, 2012

About what size starter should I pitch for a 6 gallon, 1.055ish batch of Saison that I'm brewing this weekend? Considering it's a Saison, I -want- to under pitch and stress the yeast.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Thanks!

Copbrew133 · May 29, 2012

Wyeast, wlp, or dry?

lowtones84 · May 29, 2012

Copbrew133 said:
Wyeast, wlp, or dry?

House strain, WLP Saison II + Dupont strain theoretically.

Copbrew133 · May 29, 2012

It's under 1.060 so unless the yeast has extremely viability Issues a starter probably isn't necessary since the aim is to under pitch anyway. If its in the vial the date should give an idea of viability & cell count. If it's harvested yeast I would like to know as well as I haven't started doing that yet in my processes.

Sulli · May 29, 2012

My question is; how much do you need to underpitch by, to produce the flavor profile you want? 10%, 30%, 50%?

Anybody have a good rule of thumb for this?

Is there even any good data available?

lowtones84 · May 29, 2012

Copbrew133 said:
It's under 1.060 so unless the yeast has extremely viability Issues a starter probably isn't necessary since the aim is to under pitch anyway. If its in the vial the date should give an idea of viability & cell count. If it's harvested yeast I would like to know as well as I haven't started doing that yet in my processes.

Yeah, it's harvested from a bottle of my last saison. Right now I have it stepped up to about 800 mL, wondering if this will be enough. Certainly -looks- like more than comes in a vial, but it could be less densely packed, I dunno.

DannPM · May 30, 2012

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

adjusting with temps for additional esters and phenols is much more effective than under pitching, from my experience.

planetscott · May 30, 2012

Yeah.....Poor yeast health can produce more unwanted off flavors. Go with a strong yeast and let it do it's job. Play with the temperature to achieve the unique Saison flavors. I ferment mine in the garage in the high 80's to low 90's.

Saison starter size

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Saison starter size

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